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One of my favorite bible stories is found in 2 Chronicles 20. To paraphrase, there was a huge army heading towards Judah, with defeat and destruction right around the corner. When King Jehoshaphat heard about the impending doom, he immediately rallied the people together and turned to God for help. God answered their prayers and told them that He would fight this battle for them, and they would be victorious.

The miracle of the story is not just that God delivered Judah from defeat, it is what happened next. In verse 21, the bible says that King Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing praises to God, and then put those men IN FRONT of the army. I am not a military expert, but I am fairly certain that this is not a great way to meet an invading army. To our human intellect, king Jehoshaphat’s actions are illogical and foolish.

What happened next was the victory that God promised. The people of Judah went from an unwanted attack that was meant for their destruction to a victory that has echoed throughout history. They achieved this victory because they fought the battle the way that God asked them to. They completely trusted in God when everything seemed hopeless and death was literally moving in their direction.

Many times, our marriage and family face unwanted attacks that we do not ask for and are meant for our destruction. Sometimes these attacks are self-induced by mistakes made that threaten to tear everything apart. Other times, the attacks seem to come out of nowhere and blindside us.

The apostle Paul wrote a powerful scripture in Ephesians 6:12 “For we battle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places.” This incredible scripture holds deep spiritual truths that apply to struggles we face in our marriage and family. Even with the scripture shining a light on the spirit behind our struggles, it is hard to see the battles we face from this perspective. During the middle of an argument, or moment where emotions are raw and feelings are hurt, it is not easy to see the spirit at work behind the situation. It is much easier to point fingers at the offending party instead of attacking the problem spiritually, especially when someone else is clearly at fault.

When the pressure around us increases, we have to work extra hard to make sure we do not allow those pressure to erode at us and directly attack our joy. We have to begin fighting together for our marriage and family instead of allowing the pressure to lead to fighting in our marriage and family. The best way to do this is to fight our battles the way that the scripture instructs.

Like Jesus facing Satan, we fight back by declaring God’s word over our situation. When God gives us unorthodox instructions, we take leaps of faith that do not make sense to our natural minds. We fight for our family the only way we can win and that is by letting God’s power defeat any attack Satan throws out way.